Longtime
executive
director of the Kitsap
YWCA
Linda
Joyce
announced her retirement last week during the
25th annual Women of
Achievement luncheon.
Arriving at the event in
a wheelchair, just released
from the hospital where
she was under doctor’s
care, Joyce said the decision was a difficult one for
her.
“I’ve come to this decision in my life reluc-

tantly,” Joyce said. “This The annual event is spon(the YWCA) has been my sored by the YWCA as
heart, been my baby, been a way to highlight the
contributions of women
my soul.”
throughout the
But because of
county.
her health, she
Joyce’s appearsaid she had to
ance was a surmake the decision
prise and many
to retire from her
of the staff of the
post and would
YWCA and its
do so “effective
ALIVE Shelter
immediately.”
gathered around
The room was Linda Joyce
her as she spoke
filled with wellannouncing her
wishers who gathered to honor ten local resignation. There were
women who were chosen hugs and tears.
as Women of Achievement
Also on hand were
for 2014 in Kitsap County. Joyce’s brother, her son and

her grandson, who have
been caring for her.
Joyce said the YWCA
board of directors is putting a plan together to find
her successor.
Joyce’s career began in
social work. The Indiana
native began working with
domestic violence survivors in southern California
before coming to Kitsap
County.
During her tenure that
began in 1994, the YWCA
has relocated the organization from a rental to its
permanent space on Pacific
Avenue in Bremerton.

They have also renovated
the Y’s ALIVE shelter and
added other programs that
provide services for more
than 6,000 people each
year.
Following Joyce, the
keynote speaker Kathy
Donahue, spoke about the
need for domestic violence
shelters such as the Y’s
ALIVE Shelter. Donahue’s
daughter, Georgia, was
killed on Jan. 22, 2011, in a
domestic violence murder.
“Let us make no mistake
for those victims and families, that for this community to step into their lives,

is to begin to understand
the focus of their basic
rights and all rights as
human beings,” Donahue
said. “Empowerment must
go hand-in-hand with the
topic of domestic violence
because in order to ever
help anyone, we must first
understand what it takes to
facilitate this process.”
She described her
daughter as compassionate and caring, a young
woman who only wanted
to make a life for herself
and her daughter.
SEE JOYCE, A9

Port Orchard resident
Clarke Coulter is the kind
of guy you’d want to be your
pilot in the event of a plane
crash.
About 40 minutes after
taking off from Bremerton
National Airport in his
homemade Pulsar XP Series
1 aircraft on Wednesday,
Coulter got a radio call from
folks on the ground informing him that they found a
nose-wheel that looked a lot
like his.
“In talking to them, I
knew it was mine,” Coulter
said. “They had me do a
flyby and said, ‘You don’t
have nose gear.’”
Coulter didn’t panic and,
in fact, doesn’t really ever

seemed to have broken a
sweat.
“I knew I’d step out of it
and walk away,” he said. “I
also knew the airplane was
gonna get some damage and
I tried to minimize it the
best I could. I wasn’t the least
bit concerned about me.”
Several folks on the
ground, though, including
fire crews, police officers,
pilots, Port of Bremerton
staff and others, were quite
concerned.
Shortly after Coulter took
off at 10 a.m. on Wednesday,
airport crews were informed
by a passing motorist that
an item fell from a plane.
Upon inspection, the nosewheel was located on the
north end of the runway.
Coulter had no idea that
the wheel was missing until

he was raised on the radio.
After the flyby confirmation,
Coulter decided to attempt a
landing at the south end of
the runway.
“I know somebody who
did the same thing to hers
and did a lot more damage,
but she landed at about 70
mph,” he said. “I was much
slower than that, purposely.”
Coulter got his plane
below stall speed, or 46 mph,
and hoped for the best as he
set it down with two main
wheels.
“As soon as the mains
came down, the nose came
down because I was below
stall speed,” he said. “I wanted to shut the engine down,
but I didn’t have enough
hands.”
SEE PILOT, A9

Kevan Moore/ staff photo

Port Orchard pilot Clarke Coulter managed to land his Pulsar airplane without a front
wheel on Wednesday at Bremerton National Airport.

The Bremerton Foodline’s
Sixth Annual Empty Bowl
raised more than $17,500
this past Saturday.
The record fund-raising event was held at the
Bremerton Eagles Aerie No.
192 for the first time this
year and included a variety
of gourmet soups from local

chefs, handcrafted bowls
from local artists, a silent
auction, a drawing for artisan bowls and a 32”-inch
Samsung TV, live entertainment and much more.
Last year’s proceeds from
the event were about $5,800.
“We got the bigger boat,
like they say in ‘Jaws,’ but
it filled up really quickly,”
said Bremerton Foodline
Treasurer Christine Davis

regarding the new venue. “I
think we amped it up a little
bit this year. Everything was
gorgeous.”
Over 300 community
members attended the
event put on by 75 volunteers, 13 chefs and an estimated 200 contributing
artists. Soup for the event
was provided through the
generosity of local businesses including The Boat

Church who donated their
corn chowder.
The Olympic College Clay
Club created and donated
over 500 handcrafted bowls.
One artist, Charles (Chaz)
Martin made over 180 of
those and acted as a mentor
at two of the Club’s Bowl-aThon’s this past year. Karen
Mittet, President of the OC
Clay Club, donated over
30 of her bowls and as an

Empty Bowl Committee
member, was instrumental
in amassing the bowl donations from around Kitsap
County.
Mistarian Roses, LLC a
glass studio on Fourth Street
in Downtown Bremerton
donated over 60 glass
bowls created by community members including two
SEE EMPTY BOWL, A9